Downtown Businesses Provided Support For Fare Free Trolleys

The trolleys that run on Fourth Street and on Main and Market Streets will be FARE FREE and more frequent beginning Monday, June 7.

“The downtown trolleys have become an institution in downtown Louisville, much loved by tourists and residents alike,” said TARC Executive Director J. Barry Barker. “We know they attract many more riders when they are free, so we are delighted that downtown interests have made it possible to offer this fare free and frequent service.”

The Fourth Street Trolley, originally slated for elimination this summer due to TARC’s budget shortfall, was saved thanks to contributions from downtown businesses and organizations. Funding to run the trolleys fare-free and more frequently until Aug. 15 is provided by:

The Downtown Development Corp.
The Kentucky International Convention Center
The Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau
The Louisville Downtown Management District
Humana, Inc.

“This is an important announcement not only because the trolleys are fare free again, just as they were originally conceived to be, but because downtown business interests are stepping up to the plate to keep this vital amenity in place. My hat is off to those business interests that are participating in this effort,” said Mayor Jerry Abramson.

Both the Fourth Street and the Main-Market trolleys will run more frequently between 11 and 6 p.m. The Fourth Street Trolley will run every 7 minutes during that period and the Main-Market Trolley will run every 10 minutes. This is designed to provide the lunch crowd and after-work shoppers who work downtown the opportunity to try new downtown venues by hopping on a trolley. It’s also the period when most tourists are exploring downtown.

Saturday service on both trolley routes will continue from 10 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. The Fourth Street Trolleys runs every 20 minutes and the Main-Market Street trolleys run every 15 minutes on Saturday.

The Fourth Avenue trolley, then dubbed the Toonerville Trolley, began running fare free on Fourth Street in 1987. In 1996, the Main-Market Street Trolley was added. Both ran fare-free until 2004 when a 25-cent fare was added. Ridership took a dip and then dropped again three years later when the fare was increased to 50-cents.

During the summer, a committee of business interests will be looking a long-term funding to keep the trolleys running fare free permanently.